Noteworthy list #4

Notable excerpts and links to articles and reports we’ve found worthwhile reading. Some links may be intercepted by ads or may require free log-ins. Please don’t blame us for this. Publications have to make a living some way.

Audience Dynamics

Institutional Investors and Research: A Landscape in Flux
I can see high-quality independent research (as well as the alternative information providers) plugging some of the gaps left by the sell-side research contraction, as Wall Street research budgets continue to come under pressure as the buy-side is increasingly focused on easy access to capital and less on using commissions to pay for unwanted research spend.

US hedge funds may see redemptions in 2007
Hedge funds focused on U.S. markets will see net redemptions for the first time ever in 2007 as investors shift money to emerging-markets managers, especially traders specializing in China, according to an annual survey of the $1.4 trillion industry by Deutsche Bank AG.

Aversion to U.S. Stocks Among Mutual-Fund Investors Seen Ending
U.S. investors last year put the least money into domestic stock funds in a rising market since 1989, according to industry statistics.

Responsibility

Corporate Philanthropy Inspires Trust: Does It Also Prompt Higher Profits?
Nair and his colleagues theorize in the paper that charitable giving may be good for the bottom line because it helps to convince consumers that a company and its products are trustworthy. Trust factors into many purchases, particularly when it is not obvious why one product is better than another. Nair uses the example of “natural food” products, which typically are priced higher than standard items even though they may not taste any better. Natural foods are a rapidly growing business.

Bill Gates snubs ethical investment
In a statement on its website, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest philanthropic body with $35bn in assets, ruled out screening companies in which it invested based on factors such as their environmental record or lending policies.

Regulation

Exec Comp: The SEC’s Side of the Story
So it’s not that the commission isn’t requiring the reporting of the grant date fair value of option and equity awards at all — it’s just moving them to another table. What’s more, it’s providing arguably more disclosure by requiring the fair value of each individual award rather than just aggregate disclosure.

Hedge fund managers will have to register with Canadian regulators
Currently, individuals who manage specific investment portfolios must be registered. But the executives who set up and operate the fund management companies are not covered by registration requirements.

Executive pay returns to the crosshairs
One such way to raise the bar is by requiring shareholder approval of pay packages, a right already enjoyed in the United Kingdom. “I think that there’s large shareholder momentum behind the concept,” says Richard Ferlauto, the director of pension and benefit policy for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

As TOD approaches, are all regulators ready?
Documents seen by Transparency Matters based on an update from Competent Authorities at end of November, suggest that all but 8 EU countries have yet to introduce the basic levels of regulation on the Transparency Directive, and only 2 have completed the more detailed obligations.

Technology

Yahoo! Holder Building a Dissident Nation
So Jackson is setting about recruiting like-minded individual investors in Yahoo! in what he hopes will amount to a virtual activist investor with so much buying power that the company will be forced to listen. He plans to use blogs, video blogs and wikis as his main arsenal.

NYSE plans test of real-time Web quotes
If the SEC approves the plan, the NYSE will allow Web sites to publish trade prices with nearly no delay in return for payments of $100,000 a month, the Journal reported

10 Best Intranets of 2007
This year’s winners emphasized an editorial approach to news on the homepage. They also took a pragmatic approach to many hyped “Web 2.0″ techniques. While page design is getting more standardized, there’s no agreement on CMS or technology platforms for good intranet design.

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